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The Law Firm of Childress Duffy Goldblatt, Ltd. of Chicago, Illinois, has
agreed to investigate and pursue a potential class action lawsuit arising from
the misrepresentation of the need for pet vaccinations. If you have paid for pet
vaccinations in the last four years without adequate disclosures, please
email the Firm at petvaccine@childresslaw.net.

Every year over 30 thousand dogs and cats in the U.S. die from adverse
reactions from unnecessary vaccines. It has been ten years since the article first
appeared in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
entitled "Are we Vaccinating too much?" in which and Dr Ron Schultz stated, "Clients
are paying for something with no effect except the risk of an adverse
reaction".

Since that time the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American
Association of Feline Practitioners, and the American Animal Hospital Association
as well as twenty- two schools of Veterinary Medicine in the U.S. have
endorsed reductions in the numbers and frequency of vaccinations recommended for
pets. More and more research has confirmed that most vaccines are unnecessary and
potentially harmful. And yet 90% of the Veterinarians in the United States
have ignored these guidelines, and continue to give vaccines, which have been
proven to be unnecessary and potentially harmful.

My efforts in the last six years to promote change have been met with
frustration. I have written to every State Board of Veterinary Medicine in the U.S.
I have been before the Texas State Board six times. After I appeared before
the Texas Sunset Committee, a group of 12 Senators who over- see the State
Veterinary Board, they ordered the Board to crack down on unnecessary vaccines.
They have not. The Attorney General's office in Texas has agreed that it is
unlawful for a Veterinarian to obtain a fee by the misrepresentation of the benefit
or necessity of vaccines. And yet the misrepresentation of vaccines to the
public and the harming of our pets continues unchecked.

We need your help. I feel that a class action lawsuit is the only way pet
owners can get fair and ethical treatment for our loved ones.

For starters -- many vets who are aware of new protocols are afraid to use them because the vaccines aren't labeled for use every 3 years!! They are labeled to be effective every 1 year.(Except a new one that just came out, or is coming out... Interestsingly, same vaccine - different label!) So what happens if you go to your vet who is doing the new 3 year protocol and they say, "Yea. you're good for 3 years." And then your dog ends up sick. And you say, "Well, my vet said I was protected for 3 years and he got sick after 2 years!" and the vaccine company says, "The label clearly says this should be boostered every year! We're not responsible!". Then the vet is liable!

It's all a matter of complete disclosure when you're going against the labels. But as long as you're not going against the labels and just following the research that HAS been done (which, up until recently, was minimal and not backed by the vaccine manufacturers) you really don't need to go over every other poteential options with the owner. it's like, if you're a regular vet and you don't practice herbal medicine, then no one can sue you for not recommending it! Even though they may later find out that it could have helped (maybe), the vet did everything in his/her training and experience under the guidelines and research that has been done to treat the animal. Just because he/she DIDN'T suggest something that's not even backed by much research and he/she hasn't been trained in, doesn't mean you can sue him/her!

Basically, the vets are just as likely to be sued if they did follow the new protocols and gave vaccines off label before there were adequate research studies and before the manufacturers were willing to guarantee efficacy for 3 years -- and the prosecuters would have a much great chance of winning.

Ugh!! This is totally lame and has to fail in court.

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.
--Roger Caras

Rory, I can't agree with you more! Lawsuits for everything. I don't know if anyone but the lawyer benefits. I agree more solid research is needed. People can choose to titer or vaccinate. If you don't agree with your vet's recommendation, you are free to choose a vet with your philosphy. I have lived my entire life with dogs. My dogs were vacinnated every year. My dogs have all lived into their teens, Roland, age 14, Lacey age 14, Sydney age 15 and Tibbie age 16 when they crossed the bridge. So far I have chosen to vaccinate my dogs. I may change my mind when I see more research. I am just tired of every one suing everyone for everything.
J.

I agree that lawsuits aren't a good answer, BUT this guy has been one of my personal heros for many years. His web site has TONS of valid references to vet papers (published in peer reviewed journals) with plenty of research about the problems of overvaccination including 7 year and 15 year immunity challenges. We've discussed this ad nauseum on the other board and most know my thoughts on this.

I've already pre-ordered the new Kirk's Current Veterinary Therapy IV due out at the end of this month. I'm anxious to see what material they may have on the topic.

Jay, in the past I've had dogs which were vaccinated yearly and still lived into their teens. (They also ate grocery store dog food - I was an idiot!) But at 14, 15 and 16, they were pretty feeble and certainly had degenerative diseases. Also these weren't Cavaliers.

Now my four Cavaliers are 15, 15, 12 and 12 -- all have well outlived their life expectancy which sadly is about 9-10 for Cavaliers. My 15 year old girl can climb an entire flight of uncarpeted stairs and all of them still can jump up onto the sofa and bed (although I have steps at bed and couch for them and don't encourage this). I stopped doing annual vaccs in 1997, and I believe that is a huge factor for my group. The research on vaccs began in the early 90's. At first I thought these people were a bunch of nuts. But after many many years of doing my own research, I completely agree with Dr. Jean Dodds, Dr. Ronald Schultz and the others who have pioneered this work. Bob Rogers is much more flamboyant, but the compilation of material on his web site has been invaluable to me. But don't just take anyone's word for this. Everyone should do their own research, but by that I mean actually read the papers rather than just taking someone's word that something is so.